Monthly Archives: January 2016

Type: organic remains (animal mummy)Civilisation: Ancient EgyptDate: no idea (!)ARCHAEO-Crush: I don’t think an ARCHAEO-Crush can get any cuter than these little cat mummies!!! Aren’t they absolutely adorable? The cat mummies are amongst the many mummies of the Musée du Louvre; however, there isn’t any information about them on the gallery labels or the museum website. Nothing regarding their discovery or their date. Zilch, niet, nada.What is remarkable about these little mummies is that their legs were wrapped separately from their body and they look like gambolling kittens! That is why they are so, so, so cute! Actually, I had never seen cat mummies wrapped like this before. Usually, they look like the little guys in the picture on the left. You have to admit that the effect is not quite the same! It’s unfortunate not too have any additional information… Animal mummies are generally offerings to the gods or sometimes mummified household pets buried with their owners.Bucket list status: I saw these cute mummies back in 2012.
Additional information:Since the Louvre does not have any further information about these kitties, there is not much else I can share with you.

My friend Mary B. at the Museum told me that the ladies who do the Stuff You Missed in History Class podcasts had a question about ancient Egyptian names (which came up in their Unearthed in 2015, part 1.) Apparently a bona fide Egyptologist had yet to furnish an answer to their question… so, ladies… hope this helps!

Regarding Raneferef and Neferefre (or Neferefra)…. There is this thing with the ancient Egyptian written language called ‘honorific transposition.’ This means that when the name of a god or king is a component of a person’s name, it is put at the front of all the hieroglyphs making up that name (regardless of it being syntactically in the wrong place). The god (or king) is being honoured by having first place, if you will.

To be read in very short rows from right to left, starting at the top. Reed leaf+game board+water squiggle = Amun ; half circle+quail chick+half circle = tut ; Egyptian cross with loop = ankh (the name is followed by a title, which you need not worry about!)

As an example, let’s look at the name of Tutankhamun—a pharaoh whose name includes that of the god Amun. Everybody knows Tutankhamun. Tut. Ankh. Amun. If you look at the hieroglyphs that spell his name, you’ll see that it is actually spelled Amun. Tut. Ankh. (Read the caption to know what sign is what.)

He was named after the god Amun and even though in the short sentence the name Amun should be at the end, it is moved up to honour that god. (Tutankhamun means ‘living image of Amun’.)

Now, do the names above make sense if I tell you that the Fifth Dynasty King listed above was named after the god Ra? (Also spelled Re.) Ra. Nefer. Ef is really Nefer. Ef. Ra.

As for Queen Khentkawes… her name can be spelled Khentkaus… because the sound U and W are very close. It can also be spelled Khentakawes or even Khentakawess! Egyptian hieroglyphs are primarily phonetic. It is also a language where the vowels are seldom written (which is the case with Hebrew, for example). When you’re stuck with only the consonantal roots of words, you need help trying to pronounce these words today…. So Egyptologists will stick the vowel E in between consonants. You’ll inevitably end up with varied spellings of the same name. An example: Ramses. Can also be spelled Rameses. Even Ramesses! The consonantal root is r ms s… bring on the vowels!

There is also the ancient Greek version/rendition of Egyptian names, which is very confusing. In English, we tend to use the Egyptian version of these names: take for example, Khufu… (the sounds fit with the hieroglyphs) but in French we prefer Cheops (this is how the Greeks referred to the king who built the Great Pyramid). Senwosret (also spelled Senusret) versus the Greek Sesostris! Amenhotep versus Amenophis!

Plus, it seems that modern languages adapt Egyptian names, too. Don’t go look for Nefertiti in a German book! You’ll find her name spelled Nofretete instead.

If you’re interested in ancient Egyptian language for fun, I suggest you take a look at one of the world’s most ancient and noble blogger’s posts on Circa, the North Carolina Museum of Art’s blog. Fefi is sharing secrets about hieroglyphs… which can be read from right to left, left to right and vertically downwards (not from the bottom).

Friday is our day off work, at least at the site. We usually spend the time doing research in the Chicago House Library or catching up on notes, visiting other sites, buying supplies or doing all of the above. Our break this week comes, appropriately, just after Egypt’s tenth annual Archaeologists’ Day. To celebrate the work of Egyptian and international archaeologists, the Ministry of Antiquities made admission to all archeological sites in Egypt free for Egyptians and foreign residents.

The Minister of Antiquities, Mamdouh El-Damaty, announced that the goal of this policy is to raise awareness of Egypt’s heritage, and also to celebrate the work of both Egyptian and foreign archaeologists. He hopes many more people will visit museums and archaeological sites, and support the preservation of this heritage, which belongs not only to Egypt, but to the whole world.

Egypt began celebrating this day in 2007, selecting January 14th because this was…

Share this:

Like this:

I sadly learned of David Bowie’s passing while I was at the gym a little while ago. With his absolutely amazing voice, Bowie is a god of modern music. I say god because that’s what a pharaoh becomes when he dies…

Share this:

Like this:

Staff members have been helping out during our very, very busy fall exhibitions by taking guard duty in the permanent galleries. A number of colleagues have dropped by my office to share visitor comments regarding the Egyptian galleries (always good comments and fun stories). This morning, Laura F dropped by and made my day with her anecdote. When she was on duty in the Egyptian gallery, a small boy of about 9 zoomed passed her straight to the vitrine with our two statuettes of Isis and Horus and one of Osiris with great excitement. “Egyptian action figures!” he exclaimed enthusiastically.
(Laura’s rendering of story also made it very funny.)

I howled with laughter! It made my day!

A rather poor photograph taken by yours truly this morning of the so-called ‘Egyptian Action Figures.’ (The Museum is not open to the public on Mondays, so the galleries are not lit… hence the poor photograph.)